Cinder
by 9teamleoftw9
Summary: My breath came out in ragged gasps. I had been flying for hours, days, years. And I was so, so tired. The worst part was that I didn't hate her for this. How could I? Even though she was the reason I saw my life crash and burn around me. Why'd I have to ever come across Maximum Ride?
1. Chapter 1

My name was Frida. Or at least it said so on the name card on the white coat I slowly put on. White Coats. That's what the kids called us. No matter what I was thinking about, my mind always seemed to drift towards the six of them. My breath drew in sharply as I passed them, each sitting pathetically in small dog cages. There was the dark girl, the little blond boy, the blind boy, the tiny girl, sisters with the first boy, the oldest girl, and the olive-skinned boy. Usually, I tried not to look as I walked the stretch between the coat room and the office where I worked. Then again, as often as I tried not to look I ended up doing so anyway. To them, I was just another White Coat, one of many they see in a day. They'll never know about my decision, my ultimate betrayal of them. While in the lab, I was known as Frida Dinche, I knew myself as Cin in secret. For a sin is what I committed every time I walked through the door at the end of this hallway. Hating myself, I entered and shut it behind me, feeling my wings unfurl behind me.

"Hello, Frida." One of my partners, Violetta, gave me a smile and a small nod. If I had to name any of the people here as my friend, it would probably be Violetta. Violetta was older than me, 16 or 17, with silky red hair that looked like the inside of a red velvet cupcake. With her olive skin and thick, black eyelashes, Violetta was fairly pretty. She treated me as if I was actually worth talking to, and when she was on observation duty she always gave me some coffee.

"Hi," I responded with a half smile, before stripping down to my body suit. It was made of a smooth, thin liquid that molded around me like water. Before taking off, I took a quick sweep of the room. There were four scientists on duty today, including Violetta. They must be expecting me to do something fantastic today. I sighed, taking a step back, then running a few feet and beating my powerful kite (the bird) wings. As soon as I was in the air I felt the weightless bliss of flying, and I could almost forget why I was allowed to feel this. I circled the high-ceilinged room a couple times before stopping in front of one of the scientists, Doug, to await instruction. Doug was just average; average intelligence, average looks, average everything.

"Frida," Doug started, looking down at the clipboard in his hands, "please begin with standard-" he was cut off, however, by the alarm. Utter chaos broke out, with scientists scrambling around, half trying to get out the exits, half trying to figure out what was going on. In the flurry of movement, I realized no one was paying attention to me. I made a split decision, and flitted out the open door, past six empty cages, out the coat room door and into the sunlight. I shot straight up in the air, above the clouds, and feeling my chest expand with happy breathlessness, I left the school behind with a whoosh.


	2. Chapter 2

Nudge turned around slowly to see what Fang was so freaked out about. And then Nudge gulped, and resisted the urge to start rambling on about how interesting hawks were. Because that was what was watching them threateningly. Her eyes trailed along the row of sharp beaks and talons, until she saw something that chilled her more than Erasers, which, with their huge teeth and muscled bodies, scared her enough. Nudge was staring at a girl with wings. She was used to seeing them on Angel and Max and even herself, but on another person they just seemed... freakish. This girl seemed about Fang's age, Nudge thought, flitting her eyes between them to compare. Maybe a little older.

"Bring your wings up slowly, so that they can see you're one of them, and not here to steal their home." The girl spoke, sounding a little raspy. Nudge blinked and shifted her eyes to Fang, and to her surprise, his unfurling wings. Nudge immediately started to do the same, silently following him and his movements perfectly. Soon enough, the hawks were paying no attention to Nudge, and she could openly turn and stare. The girl had emerald green eyes that stood out against her lightly tanned skin and short, choppy black hair. Nudge figured she had cut it herself. Without a mirror. Or scissors. But the weirdest thing about this girl was how she was dressed. She had a black body suit on that looked like a second skin on her, one hot pink combat boot, one stiletto with the beads on it falling off, a glove, and a leg warmer on her arm.

"Who are you," Fang asked coolly, calm and detached as always. Nudge wondered if he was freaking out on the inside as much as she was. She hoped her face betrayed as little as his did.

"Why are you here?" The girl fired right back, and Nudge head a slight croak in her voice, as if she hadn't spoken in a long time.

"It's a rendezvous point."

"I was wondering where the other four of you were." Nudge's eyes widened. How did this girl know they were a group? And how did she know there were six of them? A thousand questions flitted through Nudge's mind each replacing the previous within a heartbeat.

"Who are you?" Fang's voice was so smooth that it calmed Nudge down considerably and kept her from trying to blurt all her questions out at once.

The girl sighed, pushing her knotted hair back before folding in her wings and stepping deeper into the cave, closer to Nudge and Fang.

"My name's Cinder. Cin for short." She hesitantly stepped closer to them. And then, Nudge's mind couldn't hold all those questions anymore. If she didn't let some out, she would explode. Or faint. Or-

"Where are you from? Is it the School? How did you get wings like ours? Was it because of the School? Do you know Jeb? How do we not know who you are? How do you know who we are? Why are you here with these hawks? Do you live here? What happened to your hair? How do you-" but Nudge was cut off by Cinder's laughter. It wasn't even a small giggle, it was full out laughing. Nudge stopped abruptly and blinked. Her head felt much better, now that she had made space in it.

"Yes, I'm from the School, and my wings come from the bird DNA that was grafted into my own, the same way yours was made. Yes, scientists at the school were the ones who performed the experiment. No, I have not met Jeb, although the name sounds distantly familiar. You do not know who I am because I wasn't… uh… kept in the same place as you. I did, however, pass your cages daily. You probably just didn't notice me. I do live with these hawks, as I have for the past four years. And my hair? It's a long story," Cinder flashed Nudge a quick grin at the last part, and Nudge was so surprised that out of instinct, she smiled back. She was starting to like Cin. Nudge turned to face Fang, and was met with a still wary eye on Cin.

"How is it that there was another one of us, that walked past us everyday, and yet we somehow didn't notice that she looked exactly like us?" Fang selected each word carefully. Cinder bit her lip guiltily. "Come on, Nudge. We'll find somewhere else to wait." Fang started to stride towards the entrance of the cave, but Cin stopped him."

"No, wait-" Fang raised an eyebrow at her, and Cin pushed her hair back, frustrated. "You see… well… there was… um…" Cin trailed off, looking away. Suddenly, she lifted her eyes up, meeting mine, and looking excited. "Want me to show you something amazing?"


End file.
